Band:	Sólstafir
Album:	Í Blóđi Og Anda
Style:	Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	January 2002
Guest review by:	Aebsi

Disc I
01. Undir Jökli
02. Í Blóði Og Anda
03. The Underworld Song
04. Tormentor
05. 2000 Ár
06. Ei Við Munum Iðrast
07. Bitch In Black
08. Í Víking
09. Árstíðir Dauðans

Disc II [2013 reissue bonus]
01. Undir Jökli [demo]
02. Í Blóði Og Anda [demo]
03. The Underworld Song [demo]
04. Tormentor [demo]
05. 2000 Ár [demo]
06. Piano Song [demo]
07. Ei Við Munum Iðrast [demo]
08. Bitch In Black [demo]
09. Í Víking [demo]
10. Undirheimalagid [rehearsal version]

Well done!!! And actually their first full length album (more than 3 or 4 songs).

This album kinda stays with you (me at least) and it's hard to listen to it without being moved by one or two songs, like it's suppose to leave some sort of impression on the listener, or change the listeners ideas on how to use different styles of music. At least I can't get enough of this album, it's like someone finally answered my prayers for a band that is doing something almost totally different from what everybody else is doing. Well, on this album it's still a little experimental but the sound is great (when comparing to other bands that are still experimenting). One can hear that immense work was put into this album and it's easy to hear that they are probably the most experienced band in Iceland after Forgarður Helvítis, but they never did what Sólstafir do on this album, these changes or should I say this transformation.

So what change am I talking about? Well on this album they're changing their style from this familiar death metal to this kind of viking/folk metal with death metal influences and introducing a new bassist Svavar Austman who fits perfectly in the line-up. The music on this album is very ambitious to say the least and it's hard to describe, especially to someone who probably hasn't heard anything from this band. Well you could say it's like fusing all different kind of metal styles with Sigur Rós and get away with it without making a single boring song.

The songs on this album are just awesome, well....most of them, no album is perfect in every single way.

The songs that really stand out from the rest would be (for me) The Underworld Song, Í Víking and Árstíðir Dauðans. They all share this slow build up towards something and it's like they're telling a story especially in Í Víking and Árstíðir Dauðans. What's cool about Í Víking is partially the build up but also after a while you suddenly hear the most famous sentences from the movie "Hrafninn Flýgur" or The Raven Flies probably better known as simply "The Raven," the first Icelandic viking movie. Also what's cool on this album is the booklet; I have no idea in how many different languages the names of the songs appear.

It's easy to talk peoples ears off when trying to speak of the impact each song had on me, so if you like bands that strive to be different or do something new I recommend this album.